Nothing has gone right for Sri Lanka on the opening day of the first Test here against India. They lost toss, saw India pile on 399/3 but what was perhaps more disappointing was losing their top-order batsman Asela Gunaratne after the right-hander broke his left thumb while attempting a Shikhar Dhawan’s catch.
Gunaratne dived full-length to his left at second slip in an effort grab a nick from Dhawan but ended up fracturing his left thumb which was expected to be operated upon on Wednesday night in Colombo.
“It’s a sad one and he will undergo surgery in a short while,” said Asanka Gurusinha, Lankan team’s Cricket Manager. “Most probably he will miss a minimum of four weeks. We will know in the next 48 hours about the time frame. He has fractured in three places. As soon as we saw the X-rays we knew it was very serious and we rushed him to Colombo. We knew it was serious. We received a call around 3:30 pm saying that the surgeons had seen him and they will operate him tonight.”
The former Lanka batsman admitted Lanka’s bowling wasn’t up to scratch though the pitch was good to bat on. “We have to be honest that we didn’t bowl well. Nuwan Pradeep was the most outstanding I thought. It’s a really good batting wicket. I heard Virat (Kohli) talking that it is a good batting wicket. We bowled on both sides of the wicket as well. Shikhar Dhawan just took over the game. His 190 was one reason we find ourselves in this situation. It’s a good track. Very difficult to contain and we know that India has a very strong batting line-up. Nothing is happening.”
Published 26 July 2017, 19:45 IST